Ah, the Olympics. Every 4 years, people finally get the payoff to years of Training and Discipline. My only Training- watching bad/weird Movies. My only Discipline- making it through most of them. Today's Film is Fatal Games, a 1984 Slasher Film based around Olympic Hopefuls. It is often compared to another Athletic Slasher Film- Graduation Day. This one wasn't released later by Troma, so points for it! In a place full of highly-competitive College Athletes, tensions are sure to run high. How does this lead to Murder though? The Film's Director/Co-Writer is pretty much only known for this, while the other Writer is really only known for this. IMDB is my God, so I must believe its words! It does, however, feature Sally Kirkland in the lead role, a mere three years before she won the Golden Globe and was Oscar-nominated for a Film- Anna. It doesn't have a masked killer, so I haven't seen it. I can tie this Film back to some earlier stuff though. One of the Leads is played by Nicholas Love, who appeared in a 4-Episode Arc on Twin Peaks that, well, was a Soap Opera. Meanwhile, another Lead here was actually on Guiding Light for about 20 years- an actual Soap Opera. Is this going to be good or just end up failing to qualify? To find out, read on...
These are all Olympic Hopefuls, all in different Summer Games Sports like Gymnastics, Swimming and the Javelin.
This guy- Love- is acting a bit erratically and is the 'Team's' Javelin Thrower. No set-up here!
Wouldn't you know it- someone is then killed with a Javelin! They also fly backwards when hit, because physics.
This guy talks to the Nurse about how he's using all sorts of Drugs to make the Athletes reach their potential. Enjoy this extended Red Herring and/or vague Foreshadowing.
The Killer goes around killing people with the Javelin. It sure is convenient how dark this all is.
Our Gymnast is chased around the School naked and nearly gets help. When this fails, her death is somehow not realized for FOUR DAYS.
The Killer goes to great lengths to kill their victims. I mean, look at this silliness!
After more deaths, Kirkland is targeted again. She is saved from a shotput pummeling (aw!) and taken to the Nurse, who is not only there after hours...but also the Killer.
She would have gotten away with it if it weren't for that darn Exposition Newspaper!
After a chase and her use of the ability to teleport to the Roof, the Killer is knocked off and impaled on the Chekov's Trophy. The End.
Damn silly at times, but also kind of 'meh.' A masked Killer with a Javelin- interesting. This Movie- not always that interesting. It just kind of gets bogged down with personal drama that, well, isn't interesting. Will the guy get the girl into bed? Will the guy with the broken leg be alright? I...don't really care. Sorry, Movie. The Kills are at least kind of interesting, even if there is no real variety. How do you mix up kills with a Javelin? You could get them in the leg and make them fall off of something. You could get them coming around the corner instead of throwing it. Those are just a few examples really. In this Film's case, they just keep throwing it at people, save for that one time in the pool. Ironically, that one would actually be a more impressive one to do- tossing it ahead of the woman to hit her while she comes up for air. Oh well. Let's talk about the reveal. Ah, the good old days when Transgender people were all crazy Murderers. Good times? I'm not really *too* mad at a Film made in 1984, so don't freak out on the Film's behalf. All in all, the Film is...alright. My copy had both the German and UK Titles, so I don't know if I missed anything. I certainly didn't miss the Film's strong suit- pointless background nudity.
Next up, a Rare Flix Feature that is years in the making. Well, I'm going to write in like an Hour, but...just go with it. Stay tuned...
She would have gotten away with it if it weren't for that darn Exposition Newspaper!
No comments:
Post a Comment